Thursday, April 25, 2013

PTI April Bog Hop Take 2

 
I forgot to put these cards in the last post.  I made them for Papertrey's April Blog Hop to use a tilted element and 10 Minute Craft Dash #16.  (You can see the other cards I made for these challenges here.) They were actually the first cards that I made, but they were both Craft Dash fails and took more than 10 minutes.  They use one of PTI's flower Fusion sets and PTI's Thing Big Favorite's #19.

PTI April Blog Hop & Craft Dash #16

 
Greetings from the beach!  I hadn't planned to craft on our vacation, but at the last minute I took a shirt out of my bag and threw in a couple of PTI's mini stamp sets (yeah...our bag was stuffed to the hilt and that was the only way the stamps would fit).  I made some cards to participate in Papertrey's April Blog Hop to use a tilted element and 10 Minute Craft Dash #16.  This week's craft dash challenge has a really fun color scheme and I love this challenge because it forces me to focus and work quickly.  

 
For all of these cards I just used one of PTI's Flower Fusion sets, PTI's Think Big Favorites #19, and a really old CTMH sentiment set that my sister bought years ago.  I've been LOVING stripes lately (and I'm seeing them all over the place), so I used that theme for all of my cards.  I stuck with really simple designs partially because I had really limited supplies.  Bear with me on the photos.  I made the cards at my mom's house the night before we left for the beach but didn't have time to take photos.  This was the best I could do with two toddlers grabbing at the cards and the wind blowing out on the porch of our condo. :) The colors turned out really differently in each photo, but I promise they all are the same.
Okay, the following cards were all made in under 10 minutes.  Starting at the top and working left to right, the times I finished them in were: 7 minutes 28 seconds, 9 minutes, 4 minutes 45 seconds, and 7 minutes 57 seconds.
A close up of my favorite....I'm not sure why, but I just love this one.
This was another super quickie...it took 4 minutes 10 seconds.
Okay, one last shot.  We're on our way out to enjoy some shopping and the beach. :)

Saturday, April 13, 2013

10 Minute Craft Dash #15

I had 15 minutes of spare time yesterday, and we're going on vacation in a couple days, so I thought this might be my last chance to make a card for a few weeks.  I decided to join this week's 10 Minute Craft Dash Challenge because it fit perfectly into the amount of time I had and I just love this challenge.
A week ago I'd pulled out a couple supplies that fit the color scheme, so I grabbed those and a stamp set and quickly went to work.  During the challenge I ended up scrambling for a few more supplies and almost didn't get the paper pieced cupcake liner or glitter on because I had a major jam in my glue, but I still finished my card in 9 minutes 52 seconds (yay!).  The only bummer is that the colors in the photograph came out a bit darker than they really are.  This was my first time using washi tape (thanks to my sister Shauna for getting me some).  I probably should have practiced first...it was harder than I had anticipated to lay it down in straight lines, but it was still fun to use something new.  Oh, and about a week ago I saw these ombre cupcakes at The TomKat Studio, so that inspired my ombre frosting.

Supplies
Stamps: PTI (Mat Stack 1 Collection, Tremendous Treats Valentine)
Paper: My Mind's Eye (Lost & Found Two Collection), PTI (Stamper's Select White)
Ink: Memento (tuxedo black)
Other: PTI (pretty peonies dies), Martha Stewart (lapis lazuli glitter), washi tape, buttons, colored pencil

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Make It Monday #111 & RetroSketches #58

 
In a couple of weeks I'll be going to the beach with my family. Yippee!  A welcome change to the rainy (and even snowy at times) days we had this weekend.  My brother-in-law's parents own a condo that they always let us stay in, so this thank you card is for them.  Though I probably could give this card to them for any thank you occasion because they love the beach.  (And mom, I'll probably make a card like this for you, too, because I know how much you love collecting seashells. :) )
I used Retrosketches #58 and applied this week's Make It Monday technique to watercolor embossed images.  The watercolored shells in the jar are pastel in color, but they look really washed out in the photos.  The bottom shell is a peachy color, the starfish are slightly yellowed, and I actually watercolored white on the sand dollar to make it stand out a bit more (we'll pretend it's already been bleached...they're much more attractive that way).
Supplies
Stamps: PTI (BB: Super Stripes, Friendship Jar: Summer Fillers, Think Big Favorites #19)
Ink: PTI (kraft), SU (blush blossom )VersaMark
Cardstock: PTI (rustic cream)
Other: CTMH (clear & heavenly blue embossing powders), Hobby Lobby (burlap), SU (aqua painter)

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Fusion #1: A Card and a Story

This card has a story.  I'll try to be brief, but I don't want to forget it.  I made this card with a friend in mind.  She passed away a year ago.  Her death was a shock to everyone, and she left two five-year-old daughters and a husband behind.  I was thinking of her as I made this card, and as I made it, it evolved.  As I was cutting flowers and placing them in the bucket it was if they came to life for me. And in the end I left this fresh flower bouquet incomplete....like it is still a work in progress, still more of the story to be told.  It's really hard to describe, but it is symbolic to me, and it is special. 
Well, I knew this would be a tough time for my friend's family...I certainly wasn't the only one remembering her right now, and today was such a gloomy, rainy day that I decided that I wanted to buy some cheerful flowers them.  When I went to the store there were so many beautiful options.  There were several bouquets that I loved, but for some reason I kept coming back to one.  Though it would not have been my personal first choice, this particular bouquet just seemed right.  So I bought it, and after dinner we delivered the flowers.  As soon as I gave the flowers to my friend's husband, he set them on the table and peered into the bouquet.  "Are those gerber daisies?" he asked.  And instantly I remembered, and then I knew why this bouquet was the one that I HAD to get.  Gerber daisies were my friend's favorite flower.  It was a special moment...one in which I knew that God was keenly aware of this little family and through that tender little mercy, the flowers became something more special than I could have imagined. 

There is one more cool part to this story.  This is the flower he was looking at!  I randomly snapped this photo right before I delivered the bouquet of flowers.  At the time I wasn't even sure why I took the picture and I almost deleted it, but now I'm so glad that I have it.  Thanks so much for "listening".  I just had to write this down. 
 
On a much lighter note, the initial inspiration for this card came from the beautiful inspiration photo from Fusion Challenge #1.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Fusion #1

ETA: I'm entering this into Papertey's Stamp-a-faire 2013 Recipe Remix.  Truthfully there are a bunch of cards that I wouldn't mind having PTI's fabulous DT share their expert opinions about, but as I was going through my cards this one stood out.  I distinctly remember struggling to get the idea I had in my head out onto paper, and I was never quite sure the finished card captured all I was going for

Fusion is such a unique new challenge that I had to try it out tonight.  I planned on only using the sketch portion of the challenge, but as I was looking through my stamps I couldn't get the inspiration photo out of my mind, especially the black and white striped mat at the bottom.  Then I saw the striped circle in Papertrey's Simple Circles set, and I knew I had to combine the challenges.  It was just too much like the mat and I knew I could make a chevron pattern out of it.  And sticking with my week's theme (well...last week's theme....I made this card Saturday) of branching out of my comfort zone, I decided to make a masculine card.  I was also inspired by the gradient colors of the flowers in the inspiration photo, which translated to gradient colors (minus the pink) in the letters on my card.  I have a couple more ideas for the challenge...just hoping I get a chance to try them out.

Sunday, April 7, 2013

cQc#183

I made this a couple days ago, but I forgot to post it.  I had a bit of time to craft, but found myself not sure what I wanted to do...my mind was full of thoughts but none of them crafty related.  I decided to finally try out a ColourQ challenge.  I've seen them for a while, even pinned some of their color schemes, but never played along.
I thought these colors were beautiful and unlikely a combo I would have put together myself.  I pulled out a ton of ink pads, some old stamp sets, my scissors, and some dimensional foam squares and went to town.  By the time I was finished, this card had a TON of layers...many more than I had originally planned.  Apparently this week is all about me getting out of my comfort zone.  I'm hoping that leads to growth. :)
Supplies
Stamps: PTI (In Bloom, Mat Stack 3 Collection)
Ink: CTMH (Blush), PTI (Lemon Tart), SU (Close to Cocoa, Groovy Guava, Pink Pirouette)
Cardstock: PTI (Kraft, Melon Berry, Stamper's Select White)
Other: Martha Stewart (border punch)

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

CTS#21 & MIM #110

Oh my was this card ever a challenge!  Sheesh.  I should have stopped after a couple hours (yes, I said hours), but I had invested so much time into this stinking thing that I was determined to finish.  I initially started with Papertrey's Make it Monday #110 Challenge: Collage Elements.  When I first saw the challenge my first reaction was to skip it.  Collages are like layers times a million on my difficulty rating scale.  Plus cleaner and especially simpler seems to be suiting me better these days and finding a way to maintain that was super difficult.  Nothing was working until I remembered CAS(E) this Sketch #21 (which had initially stumped me as well).  The sketch seemed collage-ish and gave me some much needed direction (which is the positive part I'm choosing to dwell on considering that after I finished my card I realized that this sketch challenge had already ended...bummer).
Fast forward a bunch, the final product doesn't have too many collage elements, but I stamped a bunch, some of it does overlap, and I really did give it my best shot, so I'm counting it. :)  Oh, and the distressed edging...well that was kind of an accident--or rather an attempt to fix an accident because at that point there was absolutely no way I was starting over...again--and I was sort of in the mindset of "why not?" since basically everything else on the card had taken me out of my comfort zone.
But on a positive note (since I feel like I need to have more of that here on the blog), I genuinely like the colors.  And I can check "ombre" off my list off techniques to try.  And I did get a good chuckle in the end when I looked back at the card and realized that the sentiment that I'd put on it said "enjoy". :)
(P.S. Thanks for sticking with me.  I'm a rambler...I try not to let that happen all the time here, but it seems to be coming out more and more.  I guess maybe because I'm gradually letting this blog reflect more "me".)
Supplies
Stamps: PTI (Background Basics: Retro, Background Basics: Super Stripes, Background Basics: Text Style, Think Big Favorites #19, Turning a New Leaf)
Ink: Colorbox (wild hare), CTMH (blush), PTI (harvest gold), SU (pink passion, pink pirouette, soft sky)
Cardstock: PTI (aqua mist, stamper's select white)
Other: CTMH (edge distresser), PTI (beautiful butterflies dies)